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Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

raphaelfabre.com

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Re: Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

#71

To be fair, his "photo" looks a lot more like him than my passport photo looks like me. It was taken early in the morning with an ancient camera under fluorescent lights at a post office. I am tinted decidedly green and my eyes look half closed. I look more like an extra on The Walking Dead than an international traveler. He claims the photo is a "fiction". All photos are. The photo's job is to say that "the person i…

> He claims the photo is a "fiction". All photos are. That's not true. Your passport photo is supposed to be a snapshot of what you looked like in person at a certain point in time. It is the difference between a registration and a creation. The likely effect of actions like these is that eventually the passport office will take the photographs to avoid people playing games with the system (such as: replacing the eye…

There are legal requirements that are implemented as automated checks by photo booths here so that the photo is made sure to comply, so that official offices don't have to do so. The effect of this regulation is that the expression and lightning is so unnatural that the photo on my ID card only looks like me in a very uncanny way, very similar to that render.

tl;dr: on my ID card I look like my digital psychopathic serial killer brother.

Re: Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

#72
post #42

To be fair, his "photo" looks a lot more like him than my passport photo looks like me. It was taken early in the morning with an ancient camera under fluorescent lights at a post office. I am tinted decidedly green and my eyes look half closed. I look more like an extra on The Walking Dead than an international traveler. He claims the photo is a "fiction". All photos are. The photo's job is to say that "the person i…

To be fair, his "photo" looks a lot more like him than my passport photo looks like me. What on earth makes you assert this? Do you personally know the man?

Here he is "in the flesh". (Unless his skills at rendering are much more advanced than I anticipated)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB8EIh6tX3s

Re: Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

#73
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, his "photo" looks a lot more like him than my passport photo looks like me. What on earth makes you assert this? Do you personally know the man?

To add to this, where is the proof this isn't simply a photo. Where's the proof that the other photos of him on his website aren't fakes / also fakes / touched up. "Artists" have been known to perform stunts in this vein.

It is possible that this is a photo, made to look like a render made to look like a photo. The rabbit hole is deep when it comes to art!

Re: Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

#74
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, his "photo" looks a lot more like him than my passport photo looks like me. What on earth makes you assert this? Do you personally know the man?

Here he is "in the flesh". (Unless his skills at rendering are much more advanced than I anticipated) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB8EIh6tX3s

Thank you, though the only connections I see are "Caucasian male with brown hair." I would not assert based on looks alone that these are the same man. The ID photo is without glasses, but the video shows him in glasses. The video is 3/4 view of his face for most of the time whereas the ID photo is head on.

Re: Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He claims the photo is a "fiction". All photos are. That's not true. Your passport photo is supposed to be a snapshot of what you looked like in person at a certain point in time. It is the difference between a registration and a creation. The likely effect of actions like these is that eventually the passport office will take the photographs to avoid people playing games with the system (such as: replacing the eye…

> The likely effect of actions like these is that eventually the passport office will take the photographs That is the case in Hungary, where I'm from. I was surprised by this the last time I had a passport made. It came out looking good, I was just upset that I had had photos made before because the rules weren't communicated clearly. Other than that, I see no drawbacks.

Loads of Eastern European countries have the passport photo taken by a passport official; the Latvian passports in our family have the best photos, and it nicely bypasses the silly 'provide evidence of your ability to form social bonds in the local community' requirement of UK-derived applications which want you to get a declaration of the true-and-accurate-likeliness of the photo signed on the back.

Re: Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

#76
post #69

Oh that's cool. Would be even cooler if he had embedded some obvious artificial artifact through steganography in the image. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography I've been messing with the system here by sanding off my prints before applying for a passport: https://jacquesmattheij.com/the-belt-sander-and-the-battle-f... That was a fun exercise but this guy takes it to the next level.

I don't see an easy contact method on your website, so here goes. The 'old people' link is dead. Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20110121171058/http://www.compas...

Good one, thank you! I'll fix it as soon as my NAS has finished rebuilding (waiting for days :( ).

Re: Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The likely effect of actions like these is that eventually the passport office will take the photographs That is the case in Hungary, where I'm from. I was surprised by this the last time I had a passport made. It came out looking good, I was just upset that I had had photos made before because the rules weren't communicated clearly. Other than that, I see no drawbacks.

Loads of Eastern European countries have the passport photo taken by a passport official; the Latvian passports in our family have the best photos, and it nicely bypasses the silly 'provide evidence of your ability to form social bonds in the local community' requirement of UK-derived applications which want you to get a declaration of the true-and-accurate-likeliness of the photo signed on the back.

That's not quite right re. UK applications.

Countersignatures are mainly intended to confirm a person's name/identity. They certify the photo too, but an adult who hasn't had a passport before needs to attend an interview where the photo will be checked and applicants who do have a previous passport will have the new photo checked against the record.

I do think the countersignature system should be revisited, though.

Re: Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No need to overcomplicate this: if the photo is obviously different from the person the document is not valid for its purpose Feel free to submit a photo that confuses the biometric requirements, hope you like the automated border gates rejecting your passport

I don't think anyone uses the photo for biometric identification. I thought those devices you look at in line simply take a photo of you on entry. In most countries you still face the customs officer who looks at you and your documents.

eGates at UK airports do programmatically allow entry based solely on a facial recognition match between the person standing at the gate and the file on their passport's chip. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Re: Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

#79
post #16
post #5

Now we just need a scare story about how two similar-looking men could get a single passport using an "averaged digital composition". [To bypass a no-fly list, for example]

A friend of a friend told me about identical twins that sometimes swapped identities and documents, to circumvent some bureaucratic hurdles.

A friend of mine and his brothers once (allegedly) traveled around South America on a single driving license. They look sufficiently similar to the photo and I'm guessing they weren't checked often.

Re: Artist uses a computer model of his face to get a French National ID

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether it is dumb or not does not matter. The facts are that biometric passports with pictures and fingerprints are the law of the land in a lot of places. That you got away with giving them four year old pictures is good for you, I tried and was refused (and had to go make new pictures). And I haven't changed all that much (the giveaway I guess was that the picture was the same as the one I gave them last time when…

This is indeed the reason. When making ID cards for my children, I was too lazy to also apply for a passport at the same time. Applied a few weeks later and the photos got rejected because they were the same as the ID ones. According to the clerk, they can be identical only when both submissions are on the same day.

In the UK, when I renewed my driving license online I was offered the option to have them pick up the photo from my passport record, rather than send in a new photo.

Since the passport had been issued about 9 years before, the new driving license contained a picture already 9 years old (and identical to the passport).

Nearly ten years later (nearing expiry), it therefore contains a photo about 19 years old. I like to think I still look like that youthful person, of course.

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